Almost everyone I've talked to says that 2-seed Michigan State losing to 15-seed MTSU was worse because of the magnitude of the upset. Michigan State was one of the favorites to go all the way on many brackets and according to many experts, and many around the team were upset that they were a 2-seed. However, I'm more prone to consider the end of the football season worse for Sparty for three reasons:
1) More people got to witness Bama destroy Sparty live. There were other games going on while Sparty went down to MTSU, plus it happened in the middle of a Friday afternoon. Millions of people were tuned in, most people didn't tune in to the basketball game until late in the 2nd half when the real possibility of an upset became more and more apparent. Most people were still at work or school and unless you were a Sparty or MTSU fan, a 2-15 match up is not going to draw incredible numbers across the nationwide at 3 in the afternoon. Though the CFP semi-final took place on New Years' Eve when many people were focused on holiday festivities, there was more of an opportunity for people to be at home in front of their TVs to see what happened with a 7 pm kick off time. I know there was a big stink about the Semifinal games being on NYE, but the spotlight was brighter CFP game than then tourney game. Without question.
2) This was the second time during the Coach Saban era that Sparty, particularly Coach D'Antonio, was embarrassed on national TV by the Tide. I know Sparty fans going into the CFP game KNEW that they had closed the gap between us like Clemson proved they did. There was know way Alabama was going to dominate them like last time. After all, the Capital One Bowl was 5 years ago, and they were the Big Ten champs that took down Ohio St. and Iowa, and the SEC wasn't what it used to be... 38-0 and even worse than last time when they lost 49-7, they didn't. even. score.
3) There is a greater chance of happier times being on the horizon for Sparty in basketball than with football (as long as Coach Izzo is there, that is). I mean look at Duke. Since 2012, Duke has been a 2-seed that's lost to a 15 AND a 3-seed that's lost to a 14. Yet all of that has been forgiven with them winning it all last season. I think of Michigan St as one of the 5-6 teams that you can pencil in as serious title contenders year in and year out in college basketball (UNC, DUKE, Kansas, and Kentucky) I think it's more likely that these guys will be back to the Final Four, than for the football team to make it back to the CFP.
So what say you TideFans, which was worse?
1) More people got to witness Bama destroy Sparty live. There were other games going on while Sparty went down to MTSU, plus it happened in the middle of a Friday afternoon. Millions of people were tuned in, most people didn't tune in to the basketball game until late in the 2nd half when the real possibility of an upset became more and more apparent. Most people were still at work or school and unless you were a Sparty or MTSU fan, a 2-15 match up is not going to draw incredible numbers across the nationwide at 3 in the afternoon. Though the CFP semi-final took place on New Years' Eve when many people were focused on holiday festivities, there was more of an opportunity for people to be at home in front of their TVs to see what happened with a 7 pm kick off time. I know there was a big stink about the Semifinal games being on NYE, but the spotlight was brighter CFP game than then tourney game. Without question.
2) This was the second time during the Coach Saban era that Sparty, particularly Coach D'Antonio, was embarrassed on national TV by the Tide. I know Sparty fans going into the CFP game KNEW that they had closed the gap between us like Clemson proved they did. There was know way Alabama was going to dominate them like last time. After all, the Capital One Bowl was 5 years ago, and they were the Big Ten champs that took down Ohio St. and Iowa, and the SEC wasn't what it used to be... 38-0 and even worse than last time when they lost 49-7, they didn't. even. score.
3) There is a greater chance of happier times being on the horizon for Sparty in basketball than with football (as long as Coach Izzo is there, that is). I mean look at Duke. Since 2012, Duke has been a 2-seed that's lost to a 15 AND a 3-seed that's lost to a 14. Yet all of that has been forgiven with them winning it all last season. I think of Michigan St as one of the 5-6 teams that you can pencil in as serious title contenders year in and year out in college basketball (UNC, DUKE, Kansas, and Kentucky) I think it's more likely that these guys will be back to the Final Four, than for the football team to make it back to the CFP.
So what say you TideFans, which was worse?
